Langway, Rod C.
Hockey
b. May 3, 1957, Taiwan, Taipei
The son of a career Navy officer, Langway grew up in Massachusetts and was a three-sport star in high school. Offered football scholarships at many colleges, he chose the University of New Hampshire because he would be allowed to play hockey as well as football there.
As a sophomore, Langway participated in two NCAA post-season championship events, as a linebacker for the football team that reached the quarterfinals of the Division II championship tournament and as a defenseman for the hockey team that was eliminated in the semi-final round of the Division I tournament.
The Montreal Canadiens chose him in the third round of the 1977 NHL draft, but Langway elected to sign with the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association, who had picked him in the first round.
In 1978, Langway signed with the Canadiens as a free agent and played 18 games in the minors before entering the NHL. A rock-solid defenseman, he helped Montreal win the 1979 Stanley Cup. After three more seasons with the Canadiens, he asked for a trade.
He was to the Washington Capitals in a seven-player deal before the 1982-83 season and spent the rest of his career there. In 1983, Langway became the first U. S. player ever to win the Norris Trophy as the league's outstanding defenseman, and he repeated the following year.
Langway also captained four U. S. national teams, in 1981, 1982, 1984, and 1987.
After suffering a variety of injuries from 1987 through 1992, Langway announced in early 1993 that he wouldn't play any more and he was released. He then became coach of the Richmond Renegades of the East Coast Hockey League, where he played 10 games in 1994-95 because of injuries to other players. He then spent a season playing for the San Francisco Spiders of the International Hockey League. In 1996, he returned to Richmond as head coach, but he played 10 more games in the minor leagues with the Providence Bruins in 1999-98 before ending his playing career for good to focus on coaching.